Diego Gutiérrez

How to publish good papers

Dr. Diego GutierrezAssociate Professor

Universidad de Zaragoza

Diego Gutiérrez

Associate professor (profesor titular)

Graphics and Imaging Lab:Computer GraphicsComputational PhotographyApplied Perception

Different fields do have different idiosyncrasies!

Diego Gutiérrez

Associate editor:ACM Transactions on Applied PerceptionIEEE Computer Graphics & ApplicationsComputers and Graphics

As an editor

Diego Gutiérrez

As a reviewer

Diego Gutiérrez

31 revistas indexadas en el JCR5 de ellas en ACM Transactions on Graphics, 1/82, I.F.: 4.1

60 congresos internacionales con revisión 15 ponencias invitadas en congresos (9 internacionales)4 guest editorials de revistas de JCR

9 revistas no indexadas18 congresos nacionales con revisión6 capítulos de libro

As an author

Diego Gutiérrez

31 revistas indexadas en el JCR5 de ellas en ACM Transactions on Graphics, 1/82, I.F.: 4.1

14 submissions to ACM Transactions on Graphics REJECTED

As an author

Diego Gutiérrez

The Editor in Chief (or similar position or panel) assigns you a paper based on your expertise

You can desk-reject it (never done it):Out of scopeDouble submission

You have a few days to find 2..4 suitable reviewersAn expert in the field. At least knowledgeable enoughNot conflicted!

As an editor…

Diego Gutiérrez

Sometimes it seems impossible… Super-senior people are more likely to decline

Know your colleagues… and their students!

Shake it up: Avoid too many from the same institution or line of thought. Certainly no more than two at most!

As an editor…

Diego Gutiérrez

Once reviews are in:Read them. Make sure there are no issues:

UnpolitenessClear conflict of interestPlain wrong

Careful: plain wrong means plain wrong. It doesn’t mean that you don’t agree!

As an editor…

Diego Gutiérrez

Your opinion on the paper does not count in general

You simply make a decision based on the reviews

If conflicting reviews, either assign extra reviewer or decide yourself

As an editor…

Diego Gutiérrez

Make the decision and write a summary review:

Accept as is (very rarely)

Accept with minor revisions

Major revisions

Reject

Be respectful in your reviews. The authors worked hard…

…but don’t sugar-coat it

You’re not helping them!

As an editor…

Diego Gutiérrez

Back to bussiness:

How to publish good papers

Diego Gutiérrez

Work

Take home message

Diego Gutiérrez

Work well

Take home message

Diego Gutiérrez

Any questions?

Diego Gutiérrez

Good papers come only after good work

The goal is to communicate ideas, not just to create them

Flawed communication (write-up) is a legit argument to reject a paper:

Live with itLearn from it

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

Good papers come only after good work

The goal is to communicate ideas, not just to create them

Flawed communication (write-up) is a legit argument to reject a paper:

Live with itLearn from it

So, how to get your point across?

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

Have a point to get across!

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

As an author…

Your work

Diego Gutiérrez

As an author…

Your work

What ends up in the paper

Diego Gutiérrez

Choose your message. Tell a story

Diego Gutiérrez

Disclaimer: from here on I’m assuming that the work is good to begin with

Don’t bother to try to write a good paper with not-so-good workThere’s plenty of not-so-good places to publish those!

Sometimes excellent work leads to disappointing results:Oh well

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

Find the right pitch!

Writing a paper is not a linear process. Sometimes you’ll change its spin halfway through

Not ideal, but it happens

It’s a little like writing a good scriptYou have to have good material to begin withBut you also have to string it together nicely

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

Assume the reviewers (then the readers) don’t know as much as you do.

Find your main contributionsSometimes it hurts to leave stuff out. Suck it up

Organize them properly (find the story!)

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

Let’s assume:AbstractIntroductionPrevious workTechnical contentResultsConclusions and future work

As an author…

Diego Gutiérrez

The abstract is crucial

It’s used by editors and program chairs to find the right reviewers

And you do want the right reviewers

Short, and to the point.

The paper should be understood without the abstract

Redundancy allowed (expected)

Abstract

Diego Gutiérrez

The introduction is crucial

(So are the results and the figures)

The mainstream reviewing process:Read the abstract (this sounds interesting…)

Jump to the results (wow, nice results!)Skim through the figures (ah, so this is how it’s done)

Read the intro (I want to accept this!)

Most of the times, you’ll write intro and abstract last.

Introduction

Diego Gutiérrez

About XX% of the decisions are made after reading the intro1

1 Sorry, you’ll need to be in this room to hear the figure

Introduction

Diego Gutiérrez

Motivation of the problem (no grandmothering!)Why is it important? Why is it difficult?

High-level description of your approachWhat are the alternatives? Why is yours different/better?What is your silver bullet?

Introduction

Diego Gutiérrez

Don’t oversell!

You may want to explicitly summarize your contributions at the end

Most of the times, you’ll write the intro last.

At the end of the intro, the reader knows the problem and its solution

Introduction

Diego Gutiérrez

Can you tease the readers a little?

Introduction

Diego Gutiérrez

Is not a grocery list!Organize the work in categoriesSelect the most relevant (OK to reference off to a survey)Briefly state how yours is differentAvoid direct confrontation. Be positive……but not too much. Your work may be seen as incremental

Previous work

Diego Gutiérrez

Don’t summarize the whole field

You can’t!

Position your paper

Previous work

Diego Gutiérrez

Don’t summarize the whole field

You can’t!

Position your paper

Previous work

Previous work

Diego Gutiérrez

Don’t summarize the whole field

You can’t!

Position your paper

Previous work

Your paper

Previous work

Diego Gutiérrez

Don’t summarize the whole field

You can’t!

Position your paper

Reader knows how different methods relate to yours

Previous work

Diego Gutiérrez

One technical section for each contribution

You have already weeded those out

Begin with a brief, high-level overview

Not a table of contents!

Maybe a figure summarizing the whole thing

It may become its own section right after the Previous Work

On to the technical content!

Diego Gutiérrez

Diego Gutiérrez

Explain the whys before you describe the hows

On to the technical content!

Diego Gutiérrez

Use the and our appropriately! “The clustering algorithm…”“Our clustering algorithm…”

Use figures wisely. Make sure they can be seen in print

Make them as stand-alone as possible

On to the technical content!

Diego Gutiérrez

Diego Gutiérrez

Make sure to back up every single claim you made

Comparisons!

Yeah, it works. But does it work better than X?

Discuss the results (you may use its own section for that)

Walk the reader through them. Explain what they are seeing, where, and why you are showing it to them. Avoid ultra-short captions!

Results

Diego Gutiérrez

Results

Diego Gutiérrez

Results

Diego Gutiérrez

Discuss the limitations of the methodThis is one of the most recurring mistakes

Be open. Be frank. Show failure casesGood strategy: break assumptions stated at the beginning

Reviewers want to know how much you can push this algorithm. Are you hiding any skeletons?

Limitations

Diego Gutiérrez

Don’t write stupid stuff here. Don’t state the obvious

“As future work, we’d like to make this faster”

Write interesting, thought-provoking ideas

Can this work inspire future research?

Summarize your key contributions, not the paper.

Try to end in a positive tone!

Conclusions & Future work

Diego Gutiérrez

Go back to it

Read the paper. Be critical. Have others read the paper and accept criticism

If you need to verabally explain me something, redo it

Forget what you know, and read only what you wroteThis is difficult. Very. Just do it

Writing is an iterative process!

Just when you think you’re done…

Diego Gutiérrez

Let go of things that don’t work. Fail fast

Let go of things that do work, but need to be left out in the end. Supplementary material?

Avoid a purely descriptive paper

Anticipate the reviews. Be critical. If you see it, they’ll see it too

Some final remarks

Diego Gutiérrez

Know your field

Be honest about the magnitude and scope of your contribution. Discuss limitations

Find a good title:Non-linear volume photon mapping: worst title

ever?Informative. Sexy is good too!

Some final remarks

Diego Gutiérrez

Avoid salami-slicing

Please: do not write the same paper over and over

Read/write/speak English

Volunteer to review!

Some final remarks

Diego Gutiérrez

Go out. See the world. Go to conferences. Visit other universities. Learn from every single one

Have passion. Don’t lose heartThere will be bad reviewsGood papers will be rejectedYou will feel shattered

But hey, in the grand scheme of things…

There’s always the next conference!

Some final remarks

Diego Gutiérrez

Choose your message. Tell a story

diegog@unizar.eshttp://giga.cps.unizar.es/~diegog/

Fredo Durand: How to write a bad articlehttp://people.csail.mit.edu/fredo/FredoBadWriting.pdf